Fate works in mysterious ways. It might be true for many, but for Dagur Sigurðsson, it surely was true at the start of his third edition of the Olympic Games. First, he coached Germany and secured a bronze medal at Rio 2016. Four years later, the Icelandic coach led the home side, Japan, at Tokyo 2020.

And he was due to do it again at Paris 2024, after Japan delivered a huge surprise at the 2023 AHF Asian Men’s Olympic Qualification Tournament, sealing the Olympic ticket at Qatar and Bahrain’s expense. But then the phone called and Sigurðsson received an interesting offer.

He was offered the position of Croatia men’s national team head coach, the first foreign coach, a team which is a two-time Olympic champion, a world champion and has three silver medals at the EHF EURO. Yet Croatia were stumbling in the last major international competitions, lingering around the 10th position.

A big challenge, for sure, but one where Sigurðsson had the potential to work with some excellent players, like Domagoj Duvnjak or Luka Cindric, plus with a fantastic younger core, players who are becoming stalwarts in their own respect, like Matej Mandic or Ivan Martinovic.

But where is fate involved here?

Well, after securing another Paris 2024 ticket via the Olympic Qualification Tournament #2 in March, Sigurðsson made sure he had a chance to still appear at the Olympic Games. And as fate had it, after the draw, his debut came against … Japan of all teams. 

And herein lied the paradox. Sigurðsson qualified two teams at the Olympic Games, and in the first match of the opening day at Paris those two teams faced off and produced one of the most entertaining matches of the competition so far, with Japan leading by six goals, Croatia attempting a comeback and finally completing it with two seconds to go, as right back Ivan Martinovic delivered a fantastic shot to clinch a 30:29 win for the European side.

“I think I can be very proud of both teams. The seven years of my life have been in Japan, so I'm happy to see they played very good and showed a fantastic performance. But also the character of my current team was amazing, I was really happy with the second half. We changed emotionally and could get back into the game,” said Sigurðsson.

Croatia are returning to the Olympics for the first time since Rio 2016, missing out at Tokyo 2020  in the last seconds of the Olympic Qualification Tournament #1 three years ago, in Montpellier, when Portugal qualified at Croatia’s expense.

For a handball-mad country, which is passionate about the sport, to start with a win is crucial for the morale of the team, as it can fuel better performances in the next matches and, why not, a challenge for a medal. 

Yet this match was anything like a walk in the park for Croatia, which stumbled in the first half, was down five goals at the break, six goals after 40 minutes, and that is when Sigurðsson decided that he was going to risk it all.

A 5-1 defence, with Duvnjak as the advanced defender, and a seven-on-six attack started to fluster Japan, which became more and more cautious, felt the pressure and collapsed entirely, enabling Croatia to take the momentum and use a 6:0 run to turn the match on its head.

Was it a calculated risk?

“No, it was not calculated. I took a decision to change the defense. We were already in the arena, on the court again when we decided that we need to change. You know, it was an impulse. I'm lucky we took the chance,” added Sigurðsson.

But was it hard emotionally for Sigurðsson?

“I have done these things before. I played against Iceland and Germany and Austria, my former teams. So I'm used to these kinds of situations and I don't take it so emotionally, but it was really nice to see the guys again,” concluded the Icelandic coach.